On Sept. 8, Microsoft and the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) held a Technology Town Hall Forum at the Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, Va., featuring Virginia Senate candidates Sen. Mark Warner and Ed Gillespie.
With technology industry jobs representing 5.4 percent of the private sector workforce in 2012, fully understanding the complex technology and business policy landscape is critical for the November mid-term election cycle. This is increasingly important in Virginia’s growing technology community, which leads the nation with the highest concentration of tech workers. During the town hall, candidates Warner and Gillespie were each given the opportunity to advocate their stance on key policy issues facing both Virginia and the nation as a whole. An expert panel of technology leaders, including Microsoft’s Vice President of U.S. Government Affairs Fred Humphries, furthered the dialogue with questions on high-skilled immigration reform, cybersecurity, privacy, taxes, STEM education and jobs and economic growth.
As economic challenges persist in communities, nations and regions around the world, the value of investing in long-term economic growth and societal well-being has never been greater. At Microsoft, we believe the public and private sectors should collaborate on policy issues to ensure that information technology and cloud computing can help expand opportunity, create new jobs and improve people’s lives. We were excited to co-host an event to inform the local business and technology community on Sen. Warner and Gillespie’s positions on the important issues facing the technology industry. Microsoft and our hundreds of Northern Virginia-based employees are proud to be part of the vibrant technology sector in the Virginia area.